Over My Head
by Meghan Page
Summary: Laura took the disk and hugged it to her chest, debating whether to ask Carmilla the question that had just popped into her head. Deciding to just go for it, she blurted out, "Do you want to join us?" feat. a Frisbee game, Hard of Hearing Carmilla, and a dog.


The Frisbee whizzed over her head, sailing over her upstretched arms and across the quad.

"Danny…" Laura whined, turning back to the tall redhead. "Again?"

The weather was finally getting nice again, and Laura had decided the best way to spend the first warm day of the semester was to get her friends together for a laid back game of Frisbee. Apparently it wasn't as laid back as she had planned, as she had to go running after the Frisbee every few minutes.

"I'm sorry, Laura, I really don't mean to," Danny said, looking contrite.

"Yeah, she just keeps forgetting you're about the size of a hobbit," LaFontaine said with a laugh.

"Like you have room to talk," Danny teased them. "You're not much taller than she is."

Perry let out a snort of laughter, and LaFontaine's mouth dropped open in indignation.

Laura turned away, laughing into her hand as she scanned the quad for the Frisbee. She finally spotted it beneath a bench, right under a young woman who was sitting there.

The girl had her combat-boot-clad feet tucked up to the side, and her dark bangs fell over her face, which she had bowed over the book in her hands. By her side sat a dark German shepherd wearing a bright orange collar and leash.

Laura started to jog over, calling out to the girl as she went. "Excuse me! Um, excuse me?"

The girl didn't seem to notice, but the dog's ears pricked up. It turned to the girl and nudged her knee with its nose, getting her to finally look up, glancing at the dog before following its line of sight to Laura.

As Laura finally came to a stop in front of her, the girl pressed behind both of her ears.

"Did you need something?" she asked.

Laura put her hands on her hips, puffing a little bit from her jog over. "Yeah, I – Hey wait, don't I know you?"

Now that the girl's hair was out of her face, she looked incredibly familiar to Laura, although she couldn't quite place her.

The girl smirked at her. "I don't think so, cupcake. I'd remember such a pretty face."

Laura felt her face flush. "No, no, I'm sure I recognize you. Just give me a sec."

She wracked her brain, trying to figure out where she had seen the girl before. The dining hall? Not likely. There were too many people there to remember one face. A society then? No, that wasn't right either. In one of her classes?

"I've got it!" Laura exclaimed, causing the girl to jump slightly and raise an eyebrow. "Women's Studies, Tuesdays and Thursdays at 3. You always show up right before Dr. Washburn comes in."

A slow grin spread across the girl's face. "Well, it seems like someone was paying attention."

Laura was sure she was beet red by now. "No! I mean, the door is really loud, and I'm always expecting Dr. Washburn at that point, so I obviously notice when you come in…" She saw the girl was trying to keep herself from laughing, and felt an answering smile form on her face. "Yeah, yeah, ok. Anyway, my name's Laura."

She stuck her hand out, and the girl took it and pumped it once.

"Carmilla," she said. "And once again I ask: did you need something?"

"Oh yeah!" Laura exclaimed, embarrassed to have completely forgotten her reason for coming over. "Uh, our Frisbee went under your bench." She pointed to where it still lay directly underneath Carmilla.

"Oh," Carmilla said, looking under the bench in surprise. "Burke usually tells me when stuff like that happens, don't you girl?" She ruffled the dog's ears before leaning over and retrieving the Frisbee. "I usually like to turn my hearing aids off while I read. I enjoy the quiet."

"Oh!" Laura hadn't even noticed the hearing aids hooked over Carmilla's ears. And that also explained the garish color of Burke's collar; she must be Carmilla's hearing dog. "Yeah, totally. Um, thanks. I mean, for the Frisbee."

Carmilla gave her a crooked smile. "No problem, cutie."

Laura took the disk and hugged it to her chest, debating whether to ask Carmilla the question that had just popped into her head. Deciding to just go for it, she blurted out, "Do you want to join us?"

"What?" Carmilla asked, her brow furrowing.

"Um, do you want to come play Frisbee with my friends and I?" Laura said.

Carmilla's frown deepened. "Play Frisbee with you?"

"Yeah!" Laura found that she really, really wanted Carmilla to come with her. "C'mon, it'll be fun! You really need at least five people for a proper Frisbee game anyway."

Carmilla's frown changed to an amused smile. "Is that true? Where does it say that, in the official Frisbee handbook?"

"Yep. Chapter 2, paragraph C," Laura deadpanned.

Carmilla looked taken aback for a second, then let out a loud laugh. "You're cute. All right, I'll come." She unfolded herself from the bench, dog-earing the page of her book and taking Burke's leash in the same hand.

Laura let out a squeal of excitement, and Carmilla's empty hand flew to her ear, a tiny grimace crossing her face. Burke let out a low bark.

"Oh my god I'm so sorry!" Laura exclaimed, reaching out slightly towards Carmilla. "Did I hurt you?"

Carmilla waved her off. "No, it's okay. Sometimes high noises cause feedback." She gave Laura a small smile. "You didn't know."

"Okay, if you're sure…"

"I'm sure." Carmilla shook her head slightly, her smile growing. "Now let's go meet your inevitably dorky friends."

"Hey now. You're all going to get along great together, I know it." Laura was practically skipping with happiness.

"Of course we will…" Carmilla mumbled to herself. But she allowed herself to be lead across the quad to where the others waited, all looking a little perturbed.

"Took you long enough!" LaFontaine called out as they approached.

"Who's this?" Perry asked, looking towards Carmilla, who had stopped a little behind Laura.

Laura handed Perry the Frisbee, saying, "This is Carmilla. She's in my Women's Studies class, so I invited her over to play with us."

She turned back around to face Carmilla, to make sure her voice was projected towards her, and so she could see her lips if she needed to. (Could Carmilla even do that? Laura knew she herself was awful at reading lips, and of course being hard of hearing didn't give someone super lip-reading skills. Still, she supposed it couldn't hurt.)

"Carmilla, these are Danny, LaFontaine, and Perry, my totally cool friends." As she said their names, she gestured to each one, and they gave a small wave.

Carmilla waved back, but her brow creased a little in confusion. "Um, what was that middle one again?"

"Oh! LaFontaine," Laura enunciated, then tried to finger spell it.

Carmilla patiently watched Laura's hands as she fumbled through the letters, then smiled when she finished. "Ah, LaFontaine." She looked over to where they stood and nodded at them. "Nice to meet you."

They nodded back enthusiastically. "Yeah, same."

Perry waved her hand a little, getting Carmilla's attention, and said, "It's a pleasure meeting you. Would you like to get started now?"

"Um, okay," Carmilla responded. She looked over at Laura. "Is it all right if Burke plays, too?"

Laura smiled widely. "Oh yeah, sure thing!"

Carmilla knelt down beside the dog, unhooking the clasp on her collar. "The collar tells other people that Burke is a service dog, but it also tells her it's time to work. When I take it off –" she pulled the collar from around Burke's neck, and the dog bound over to the rest of the group, tail wagging as she sniffed around their feet. Carmilla laughed. "Then she knows she can play."

"That's pretty cool," Laura said, watching Carmilla watch Burke. "You've trained her really well."

"Yeah…" Carmilla replied softly, watching as everyone knelt down to say hi to Burke.

Laura couldn't help but notice the soft look in her eyes, and felt her stomach flutter a bit.

Carmilla finally stood back up, dusting dirt off the knees of her dark jeans. "All right, I guess I'm ready for your nerd fest," she said, crossing her arms over her chest.

"Hey, stop pretending you're not gonna enjoy yourself," Laura teased, lightly pushing at Carmilla's shoulder. Carmilla retaliated with a hip check, making Laura giggle, and they walked over to where Burke was being vigorously petted by the rest of the group.

"Okay, let's do this!" Laura called, rubbing her hands together excitedly. The others all stood back up and began to form a wide circle. Perry handed the Frisbee to Danny, saying, "Do try to throw it at normal-people height, okay dear?" earning her a scowl from Danny and a loud laugh from LaFontaine.

Burke had wandered back to Carmilla's side, but as soon as the Frisbee first sailed through the air, she was off again, chasing it back and forth across the circle. The friends tried to keep the game sedate as they had before, but it rapidly turned into a round of keep-away as Burke tried harder and harder to catch the flying disk. Soon they were running back and forth across the quad, yelling and laughing as Burke chased the Frisbee through the air.

Laura was watching Carmilla from where she stood on the other side of quad, listening to her laugh and thinking how pretty it was, clear and light, when she heard her name being called. She turned quickly to find the Frisbee flying straight towards her. It looked like it was going to go over her head, once again, so she reached as far over her head as far as she could. Her fingers just closed around it, and she was about to yell excitedly to her friends when she saw Burke running towards her at full force.

"Burke, no!" she managed to get out, before the dog was on top of her, bringing her to the ground with a loud _oof!_.

"Laura!" she heard Carmilla cry out as she lay on the ground trying to catch her breath, Burke worriedly sniffing at her face.

After a few seconds she managed to push herself onto her elbows, sucking in lungfuls of air as the others ran over.

"Laura, sweetie, are you okay?" Perry asked frantically. "Do you need to go to the health center?"

"No, no, I'm all right." Laura waved her off as she pushed herself into more of a seated position. "I think I am going to go sit down though, I'm _doggone_ tired. Ehh?" She grinned up at LaFontaine as they shook their head with a groan.

"Laura, no, that was awful. Leave the punning to me, all right?"

Laura let out a loud laugh, and everyone seemed to relax, convinced that she really was fine.

Burke had picked up the Frisbee and was pawing at Laura's leg, trying to get her to take it. Laura ruffled her ears and pointed over to where Danny was standing. "Why don't you ask Danny to play, huh? I need to take a break."

Burke cocked her head for a second, then scampered over to Danny, offering her the Frisbee. Danny gladly took it and sent it flying, Burke racing after it.

Laura started to get up, but found a hand in front of her. "Here allow me," said Carmilla, offering her hand to help Laura up. Laura took it and allowed Carmilla to pull her to her feet.

"Thanks," she said, brushing dirt from the seat of her pants.

"Of course. It was my dog that knocked you over." Carmilla looked at her in concern. "Are you sure she didn't hurt you? She can be a little rowdy when she's not on duty."

Laura smiled at her. "Other than a little bit of bruised pride, I'm totally fine."

That made Carmilla laugh, and Laura felt her heart skip a beat at the sound.

The two crossed the quad to where Laura had left her backpack and settled on the ground side by side. Laura dug a Silas water bottle out of her bag and took a couple large gulps before offering it to Carmilla. "Want some? It's lemonade."

Carmilla smiled, but politely refused. Laura tucked the bottle back inside her backpack and turned to watch her friends. LaFontaine was using the Frisbee to play tug-of-war with Burke while Perry leaned against the ground nearby, laughing fondly.

Laura glanced at Carmilla, finding her watching them play with a soft smile. She gently touched Carmilla's arm, getting her attention. "Carmilla?"

"Yes?"

"Thank you," she said, bringing her fingertips to her chin then away towards Carmilla.

The corner of Carmilla's mouth quirked up. "What for, cupcake?"

"I don't know. For agreeing to come hang out with us. I had a lot of fun."

A genuine smile spread across Carmilla's face. "Well then, you're welcome." She brought her hand up near her forehead then curved it down towards her stomach.

Laura grinned in return. She was going to have to remember that, and learn some more signs for when she and Carmilla talked again. That is, if Carmilla wanted to talk again. Would she want to talk again?

Burke chose that moment to trot over and drop down between them, her tongue flopping out of her mouth as she panted.

"Hey girl," Laura greeted her, running her hand down the dog's back. Burke wagged her tail and looked up like at Laura like she wanted her to continue, so Laura complied. She petted down Burke's back in long strokes, gliding her fingers through the soft fur. Burke let out a happy doggy sigh, and laid her head on Laura's knee. Laura let out a soft gasp, a huge smile spreading across her face.

"I think she likes you," Carmilla commented, watching as Laura continued to happily pet Burke.

Laura felt oddly honored, and she gave Burke an extra scratch behind the ears.

"She must take after her person that way," Carmilla continued in a soft voice.

Laura's stomach flopped at Carmilla's words, and she looked over to see her gazing back from under her eyelashes.

"Y-yeah?" was all she was able to get out.

Carmilla gave a small nod.

"Well, I like her too," Laura said, turning so she was facing Carmilla more fully. "And… I like you."

She saw a light blush spread across Carmilla's cheeks as she looked down and then back up quickly. They held each other's gazes for a minute before Carmilla broke the moment, shifting and begining to climb to her feet.

"I have to get going," she said, looking around for her things.

Laura scrambled to her feet beside her. "So soon?"

"Cutie, the sun is setting."

Sure enough, the sun was sitting on the horizon, sending red and orange rays of light lancing across the quad.

"Oh." Laura felt her stomach sink. The evening had gone by much too quickly.

"Yeah, I have to get home to feed Burke."

Laura nodded. Of course. The poor dog had been running around all day, she must be starving. "Okay. I'll go grab your stuff for you."

"Oh, no, you don't have to –"

"No, that's all right, I want to." Laura waved Carmilla back towards where they had been sitting with a smile, then turned and scanned the ground for Carmilla's belongings.

Spotting them on the far side of the quad, she set off in a jog across the grass, quickly grabbing Carmilla's book and Burke's collar from where they lay on the ground and jogging back. Carmilla was standing there watching her, Burke by her side and her hand over her eyes, blocking the golden light that fell across her face. God, she really was pretty.

"Here you go!" Laura chirped, handing the items over to Carmilla. Carmilla tucked the book under her arm and knelt down next to Burke, quickly refastening the collar around her neck.

Laura scuffed at the ground awkwardly with the toe of her shoe as Carmilla stood back up. "So, I guess I'll see you in class?" she said hopefully.

"Not if I see you first," Carmilla said with a wink.

Laura cocked her head in confusion, but Carmilla just smiled mysteriously. She gave Laura a small wave, then, patting her leg to get Burke to heel, began walking away across the quad.

Laura watched them for a while, then dropped down next to her backpack with a happy sigh. A sudden fluttering sound caught her attention, and she looked down to find a piece of folded notebook paper resting on top of the bag. That certainly hadn't been there when she got up.

Her curiosity piqued, she opened it to find a few lines in an elegant, spidery scrawl. In the middle of the paper was written a phone number, followed by "Text me sometime." It was signed "C," and on the bottom corner there was a dirty paw print.

A wide smile spread across Laura's face. She immediately pulled out her phone, opening up the messenger and typing in the number.

**Unknown** (6:17pm): tell burke i said bye

**Carmilla :)** (6:18pm): Took you long enough

**Cutie** (6:18pm): r u doing anything tonite?

**Carmilla :)** (6:18pm): Nothing in particular. You have anything in mind?

**Cutie** (6:19pm): want 2 go 2 dinner?

**Carmilla :)** (6:19pm): Sounds perfect

* * *

**A/N:** Credit to possibilist for first writing HoH!Carmilla.

Line "Not if I see you first" shamelessly stolen from Fool's Gold.

Ever since I heard Natasha's interview with Sara and Allison saying she wanted to give Carmilla a dog I have also wanted to give Carmilla a dog, and so I have taken this opportunity to do so. Her name comes from the Deaf professor of philosophy Dr. Teresa Burke, who incorporated a lot about Deafness into her philosophy work. I feel like HoH!Carmilla would definitely be interested in her work.

This is my first time writing a Deaf character, so I promise I did a lot of research and did my best to be accurate and respectful, but if I still got something wrong, please let me know. You can just leave a comment or contact me at my tumblr writingreferee. I noticed there was a lot of debate on the correct way to sign "you're welcome," so the sign I used was from this (youtube /watch?v=d2SWl0N2HRw) video (at the 0:40 mark).


End file.
